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Hi All,
I paid $595 for a Luxury Tire and Wheel Protection warranty at the dealer when I signed the lease. It covers the 3 Year Lease period.

Here's the coverages...
Replacement of Tire/Wheel in event repair is not possible with like tire/wheel using the current retail market value of the replaced tire/wheel.
Coverage of all costs associated with the repair or replacement of tires and/or wheels plus labor charges including mounting, balancing, valve stems, taxes and towing.

I have 330i with stock 225-45-R17 run flats. Non-SP.

I never have had a flat in ~20 years of driving, but these new run-flats have me worried. It's also the first time I've had a car that has a wheel/tire combo that costs ~$500. (Anyone actually know what the '06 330i stock 17 inch wheel and tire go for?)

While I feel I may have overpaid for the coverage, seems like the amount I paid was more like a 5-year coverage than 3-years, can ye all comment on the value/usefulness of the policy. I have 30-days to cancel the policy.

I talked to my insurance company and while there is rim/tire damage covered by insurance, it does not cover flats from nail/screw on the freeway type situations. I also have a $500 deductible, so claiming under insurance is really not an option.

Just replacing a run flat tire will cost about $380! Fixing a nail/screw problem is usually not an option, since the repair shops all shy away from it....they call the run flats "non repairable". The coverage is well worth it, in my opinion. That's not even mentioning damage to one of your rims; i'm sure they run in excess of $300 per rim, too.

I noticed AutoClub has a Road Hazzard Tire/Wheel warranty for $2.50/month. It covers $20 Labor and up to $350 parts (Wheel and/or tire) per incident.

Not as comprehensive as the warranty I have, but hell of a lot cheaper. At least I would recover $370 per incident. This should cover runflat tiore replacement, doubtful if it would pay much towards the wheel replacement.

We opted for the wheel/tire coverage as well. Although we paid about 20% less (currency converted from cdn to usd), and ours is for 5 years worth of coverage, as opposed to the 3 year lease term.

I'd ask some more questions at your dealership and maybe find someone closer to you that's opted for the coverage and compare with them. Until RFT's are as cheap as non-RFT's, I'll take the warranty coverage. And, if after 4+ years, nothing happens,... maybe I'll find a bunch of broken glass & nails and drive around for a while

Just replacing a run flat tire will cost about $380! Fixing a nail/screw problem is usually not an option, since the repair shops all shy away from it....they call the run flats "non repairable". The coverage is well worth it, in my opinion. That's not even mentioning damage to one of your rims; i'm sure they run in excess of $300 per rim, too.

Where did you get the $380 number? These are the regular 17" A/S on the Car. They run about $180 each (from tirerack) (plus something like $20/tire for mounting and balancing). The performance tires run in the $250-$300 range and need to be replaced every 15k..

Standard 17" BMW rim is about $360 MSRP (from BMWwheels)

So in order to make up the $600 cost over 3 years, you need 3 flat tires or 1 flat plus a rim that needs to be replaced. In my previous 325xi, I did need to have a rim replaced which was slightly bent (but since they just put on the spare rim, didn't cost me anything), but never had a flat.

There are a couple of caviates about the coverage. If your tire is almost to the point of needing replacement, they will NOT cover the tire (FYI you will get between 30 and 35K miles on the original tires on a 330i and 25-30k on the xi version). So if you have 25 or 30K on a tire and it gets a flat, they will NOT replace it. I also don't think it covers things like you hitting a curb (in while you scratch the hell out of the rim).. Double check the fine print.

Not trying to say you got ripped off... but they are offering this "insurance" to make money. You know that they have a list of statistics on the number of insidences and their actual cost to replace the tire. The price will be set in the end so that their expected profit will be highly positive (and you will probally loose money). That is the nature of the insurance business.

I paid for the coverage on my car ($499 for 5 years). I think the need for this coverage will depend on where you live. I would think that those living on the west coast would find it unnecessary, but it would be more useful in the northest due to the poor roads.

The most frequent road hazzard in this area are potholes. My experience has been that if you get a flat from a pothole, it will usually destroy two tires (front and rear tire on the same side). If this happens once, you have more than paid for the insurance. I have had this happen on two occasions in the past 4-5 years. I was fortunate that I did not bend a rim, but my BMW has much lower profile tires (225-45-17 on my old Jetta vs 255-35-18 on the rear of my 330i). The two tires on the Jetta cost me close about $350.

The warranty will cover cost to replace the tires, wheels, mounting and balancing, and even tax. Sure it doesn't cover if you hit a curb, but how often does that happen?

Ain't that the truth about Jersey. I lived there for 5 years before moving up here and my wifes family still lives there. We took a trip down for the holiday and I swear I was dodging potholes from the point in time I got into NJ from PA... Even PA is bad in most parts.

For some reason, around here, there is not a whole lot of potholes on the major roads... I guess that's all of those tax dollars I pay at work, or just there are not that many cars on the road!!

Little known fact (at least around here), if there is a serious pothole that causes damage to your car, you can file a claim with the DOT. Never done it and I don't know what or how much they will cover, but is was on the news last night about a couple of potholes that did not get fixed when they should have. Just something to look into.

Keep in mind the warranty is offered by third party and not from BMW. Which means if that company goes under, the warranty is toasted too.
Plus you just know if u need to claim, you are NOT dealing with BMW but rather that 3rd party company. Techinically if that company refuse a claim for whatever reason, your dealership may not step in to defend you.
I was close to buying it too until I find out my dealer has only been offering that policy for a year (i.e min track record/customer satisfaction.)

They sell the insurance to make money. The premium for RFTs aren't so large that you have to buy insurance on them. Most people only buy insurance if the loss would be so great they couldn't afford to replace it, like auto or homeowners'insurance. (and health insurance).
Put the money in the bank for a tire fund.